(L-R) Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger, and European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht pose for a family photo during their meeting in Minsk, August 26, 2014.(Reuters / Grigory Dukor ) / Reuters

Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko shook hands as talks between the Eurasian Customs Union, EU and Ukraine began in Minsk. The crisis in eastern Ukraine is likely to dominate the agenda, with Poroshenko calling on the forum to accept his peace plan.

Putin and Poroshenko greeted each other with a handshake as they
met in the Belarusian capital at the start of talks on the
Ukrainian crisis.

In the opening statement, Russia's president said that Moscow is
interested in not only maintaining its cooperation with Ukraine,
but even expanding it.

However, Putin expressed doubt that the two countries will be
able to achieve this goal in case of Kiev’s association with the
European Union gets enacted. Moscow will be forced to implement
countermeasures if this happens, he added.

“We do not want to discriminate against anybody,” he
said. “We are simply going to implement a standard trade
regime regarding Ukraine – the same, which is used in relations
between Russia and the EU.”

Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko stated the goal of his visit is to do
everything possible to stop bloodshed in the country's restive
east and begin process of finding a political compromise. The
effective means for that is establishing good border controls, he
noted.

Poroshenko also called on the meeting to accept his peace plan
for Donbass, a historical name for Ukraine’s eastern provinces.

“I am convinced this plan remains relevant today and would be
an effective means to stop the bloodshed and to start rebuilding
Donbass,” he said, pledging to take the interests of the
people living in the region into account.

In his turn, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev urged
the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to provide
joint humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

"A break for a truce is essential," Nazarbayev said,
adding that a ceasefire should be announced in Ukraine in order
“for the children and women affected by the conflict to get
help.”

Praising the initiative, Poroshenko said an international forum
on the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine is set for autumn;
both the EU and Customs Union are invited to take part.

#Poroshenko
to Belorussian president: we hope these talks will help to
solve internal crisis in #Ukraine

The negotiations in Minsk are part of a Customs Union summit,
which also includes the Ukrainian president and representatives
of the European Commission, the Kremlin’s press service said
prior to the meeting. The Customs Union comprises Russia, Belarus
and Kazakhstan.

The humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine will be discussed
during the meeting between the Customs Union and Ukraine,
according to Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“[One] can’t ignore the catastrophic situation in eastern
regions of Ukraine, especially in Donetsk and Lugansk
[Regions],” he said, adding that the key issue on the agenda
is “the relations between and countries of the Customs Union
and Ukraine, including in the aftermath of the signing of the
Kiev Association Agreement.”

Peskov also didn’t exclude the bilateral meeting between Putin
and his Ukrainian counterpart.

“There are many issues for discussion [between Putin and
Poroshenko],” he said, “They [issues] include Ukrainian
domestic crisis and terrible humanitarian catastrophe in the
country’s east, and the necessity of the ceasefire.”

Putin and Poroshenko may also discuss “bilateral relations
between Russian Federation and Ukraine,” including in the
aftermath of Kiev’s signing the European Trade Association
Agreement with the EU.

The bilateral talks between Putin and Poroshenko, if they take
place, will be the first negotiations between the leaders. They
last met during the D-Day anniversary commemorations in Normandy,
France on June 6 – a day before Poroshenko’s inauguration as
Ukrainian president. However, that meeting lasted less than 10
minutes and included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President François Hollande.

In Minsk, the European Union will be represented by foreign
policy chief Catherine Ashton, Energy Commissioner Günther
Oettinger and Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko said ahead of the talks said
that he intends to discuss a peaceful way of regulating the
crisis in eastern Ukraine.

“The intensity of the dialogue [in Minsk] will be very
high,” said Poroshenko, adding that the key issue of the
talks will be peace.

“The Ukrainian nation and I stand firm that a peaceful plan
of [solving crisis in] Ukraine should come into force,” he
added.

Kiev’s military crackdown in the southeast of the country began
in April after the people in eastern Donetsk and Lugansk Regions
refused to recognize the new coup-imposed authorities and
demanded federalization of the country.

According to the UN, over 2,000 people have so far been killed
and over 5,000 wounded in the fighting.

On Monday, Russia commenced the distribution of humanitarian aid
in the city of Lugansk. But, the humanitarian situation remains
“critical” in the city as people are forced to survive
without electricity, water and communications due to ongoing
fighting between the Kiev troops and the local self-defense
forces, Lugansk City Council said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke about the necessity
of talks in Minsk to regulate the situation in Ukraine’s east.

“All the participants [of the talks in Minsk] agree that it
is necessary to start a political dialogue,” said Lavrov.

He added that Russia is willing and ready to participate in full
in any type of negotiations on ending hostilities in the east,
and expressed hope that the meeting in Minsk will include a focus
on the crisis in Ukraine.

“We [Russia] are ready to all type of negotiations, if only
we had a result,” he added.